Sunday, March 21, 2010

Illinois senator does an about-face...

Just a few weeks after catching a lot of political heat for attempting to sponsor legislation that would re-introduce the mass-gassing of pets in Illinois, one Republican senator is trying to make nice-nice with the state's increasingly vocal animal constituency. Senator - and gubernatorial candidate - Bill Brady is breaking GOP ranks to support some anti-tethering legislation making its way through the Illinois legislature.

Governor Quinn, the consummate Illinois politician, has still managed to find a way to take jabs at Brady even if they are on the same side of the issue: his spokeswoman suggesting that Brady flip-flops on animal welfare issues.

You can read more about all the posturing in Dave McKinney's Sun-Times article from yesterday. What the article does not go into, however, is the substance of the measure. While arguably any legislation reducing tethering is good, imho, this proposal does not go nearly far enough to really be "anti-tethering". It is more accurately described as "less inhumane tethering." Oh well. Half a loaf, I suppose.

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